Berlusconi Indicted on Underage Sex, Abuse of Power Charges

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has a date. Unfortunately,
it's a trial
date, stemming from charges that he paid
an underage Moroccan belly dancer for sex and then abused his position
to have said underage Moroccan belly dancer bailed out of jail when she
was busted for shoplifting in Milan last May.

Milan Judge
Cristina Di Senso handed down the indictment this morning, setting the
trial date for April 6, in accordance with prosecutors' wishes that the
prime minister be forced to stand trial immediately.

This certainly won't be
Berlusconi's first time in a courtroom. In the past, he has gone on
trial for tax fraud, false accounting, and embezzlement in the dealings of the 74-year-old billionaire's media empire.

Monday's
indictment comes after thousands of women across Italy turned out
Sunday to protest the prime minister's
sordid "bunga
bunga" parties with young women and the overt sexism on Italian
television, 90
percent of which is controlled by Berlusconi's company, Mediaset.